I think this is a very good article and well thought out. This is only my third day on Steemit, so I'm still learning the ropes, but one thing I've shied away from so far is self-voting. However, if curation along with posting original content is not sufficient to show a monetary reward, I will definitely start self-voting. It remains to be seen for me which is the better way. I'll continue to upvote others and leave comments and follow people, of course, just as I have done for your post. :)